September 25, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 9:1-17 Saul is a religious fanatic killing in the name of righteousness. On the road to Damascus, he experiences a dramatic encounter with Jesus who asks, “Why are you hurting me?” and Saul responds, “Who are you Lord?” The road from Who-Are-You-Lord to Here-I-Am-Lord is disorienting because […]
August 7, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 7:54-60 We arrive at the end of Stephen’s life but not the end of his legacy. We find the Trinity, God, Son, and Spirit bearing witness to Stephen’s grace. Each member of the Trinity knows their place in life. God in heaven. Jesus standing at God’s right […]
July 24, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 6:8-15 In the story of Stephen, he is described as someone full of grace and power. As we see Stephen courageously stand on trial, in the steps of Jesus, we see that grace is a sign and a greater power, as he faces the powers of this […]
June 26, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Acts 2:42-47 The community of the early church engaged in communal practices of belonging and living into this new reality of Jew and Gentile doing life and faith together. In this seminal passage we find that love is belonging, love is a verb and love is solidarity. In light […]
June 12, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Matt. 3:13-17 (FNV and NASB) As we celebrate our church’s first baptism service, we are invited to remember our own baptism. In Jesus’ baptism, we see the power of remembrance and the grace of God’s belovedness bestowed on Jesus for his work. Remember your belovedness for in it […]
May 1, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 24:36-49 God doesn’t give up on us and seeks us in life as well as in death. Jesus seeks us in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. In this resurrection encounter, Jesus walks through walls to get to our hearts. He extends a benediction […]
April 17, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Luke 24:1-12 Why do you look for the living among the dead? Why do you look for the Living One among dead places, dead institutions, dead situations where there aren’t signs of his life? The angels encourage the women at the garden tomb to remember the words of […]
April 3, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 38:1-30 Tucked in between the pages of Joseph as he is sold into slavery and heads to Egypt, is the one-page story of a mother of our faith. Tamar has often been misunderstood and misinterpreted under a patriarchal lens that depicts her as a whore. However, hers […]
March 20, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 32:24-31 Jacob, one of the fathers of our faith, has a history of wrestling. From the moment he was in his mother’s womb he wrestled with his twin brother Esau. Later in life he lied and deceived his father to steal Esau’s birthright blessing. 20 years after […]
March 6, 2022 | Inés Velásquez-McBryde | Genesis 16:6b-17 In the story of Hagar, we find the faithfulness of God to an enslaved, marginalized woman whom God sees in her affliction. Hagar becomes the first and only human, and the only woman to name God. God is the God who sees, the God who hears, […]